whole city of London, I believe, could not produce such
another! how unaccountable to make you the ward of a man whose house
you cannot enter without disgust!"

"His house," cried Cecilia, "my uncle never wished me to enter; he
believed, and he was right, that my fortune would be safe in his
hands; but for myself, he concluded I should always reside at Mr
Harrel's." "But does not the city at this time," said Mr Monckton,
"abound in families where, while your fortune was in security, you
might yourself have lived with propriety? Nothing requires
circumspection so minute as the choice of a guardian to a girl of
large fortune, and in general one thing only is attended to, an
appearance of property. Morals, integrity, character, are either not
thought of, or investigated so superficially, that the enquiry were as
well wholly omitted." He then continued his relation.

Mr Harrel hastened with his £3000 to the gaming table; one
throw of the dice settled the business, he lost, and ought immediately
to have doubled the sum. That, however, was never more likely to be in
his power; he knew it; he knew, too, the joint claims of Cecilia's
deceived admirers, and that his house was again threatened with
executions from various quarters:--he went home, loaded his pistols,
and took the methods already related to work himself into courage for
the deed.

The means by which Mr Monckton had procured these particulars were
many and various, and not all such as he could avow: since in the
course of his researches, he had tampered with servants and waiters,
and scrupled at no methods that led but to discovery.

Nor did his intelligence stop here; he had often, he said, wondered at
the patience of Mr Harrel's creditors, but now even that was cleared
up by a fresh proof of infamy: he had been himself at the house in
Portmansquare, where he was informed that Mr Harrel had kept them
quiet, by repeated assurances that his ward, in a short time, meant to
lend him money for discharging them all.

Cecilia saw now but too clearly the reason her stay in his house was
so important to him; and wondered less at his vehemence upon that
subject, though she detested it more.

"Oh how little," cried she, "are the gay and the dissipated to be
known upon a short acquaintance! expensive, indeed, and thoughtless
and luxurious he appeared to me immediately; but fraudulent, base,
designing, capable of every pernicious art of treachery and
duplicity,--such, indeed, I expected not to find him, his very
flightiness and levity seemed incompatible with such hypocrisy."

"His flightiness," said Mr Monckton, "proceeded not from gaiety of
heart, it was merely the effect of effort; and his spirits were as
mechanical as his taste for diversion. He had not strong parts, nor
were his vices the result of his passions; had oeconomy been as much
in fashion as extravagance, he would have been equally eager to
practice it; he was a mere time-server, he struggled but to be
_something_, and having neither talents nor sentiment to know
_what_, he looked around him for any pursuit, and seeing distinction
was more easily attained in the road to ruin than in any other, he
gallopped along it, thoughtless of being thrown when he came to
the bottom, and sufficiently gratified in shewing his horsemanship
by the way."

And now, all that he had either to hear or to communicate upon this
subject being told, he enquired, with a face strongly expressive of
his disapprobation, why he found her at Mr Delvile's, and what had
become of her resolution to avoid his house?

Cecilia, who, in the hurry of her mind and her affairs, had wholly
forgotten that such a resolution had been taken, blushed at the
question, and could not, at first, recollect what had urged her to
break it: but when he proceeded to mention Mr Briggs, she was no
longer distressed; she gave a circumstantial account of her visit to
him, related the mean misery in which he lived, and told him the
impracticability of her residing in such a house.

Mr Monckton could now in decency make no further opposition, however
painful and reluctant was his acquiescence: yet before he quitted her,
he gave himself the consolation of considerably obliging her, and
softened his chagrin by the sweetness of her acknowledgments.

He enquired how much money in all she had now taken up of the Jew; and
hearing it was £9050, he represented to her the additional loss she
must suffer by paying an exorbitant interest for so large a sum, and
the almost certainty with which she might be assured of very gross
imposition: he expatiated, also, upon the injury which her character
might receive in the world, were it known that she used such methods
to procure money, since the circumstances which had been her
inducement would probably either be unnoticed or misrepresented: and
when he had awakened in her much uneasiness and regret upon this
subject, he offered to pay the Jew without delay, clear her wholly
from his power, and quietly receive the money when she came of age
from herself.

A proposal so truly friendly made her look upon the regard of Mr
Monckton in a higher and nobler point of view than her utmost esteem
and reverence had hitherto placed it: yet she declined at first
accepting the offer, from an apprehension it might occasion him
inconvenience; but when he assured her he had a yet larger sum lying
at present useless in a Banker's hands, and promised to receive the
same interest for his money he should be paid from the funds, she
joyfully listened to him; and it was settled that they should send for
the Jew, take his discharge, and utterly dismiss him.

Mr Monckton, however, fearful of appearing too officious in her
affairs, wished not to have his part in the transaction published, and
advised Cecilia not to reveal the matter to the Delviles. But great as
was his [ascendancy] over her mind, her aversion to mystery and
hypocrisy were still greater; she would not, therefore, give him this
promise, though her own desire to wait some seasonable opportunity for
disclosing it, made her consent that their meeting with the Jew should
be at the house of Mrs Roberts in Fetter-lane, at twelve o'clock the
next morning; where she might also see Mrs Hill and her children
before she left town.

They now parted, Cecilia charmed more than ever with her friend, whose
kindness, as she suspected not his motives, seemed to spring from the
most disinterested generosity.

That, however, was the smallest feature in the character of Mr
Monckton, who was entirely a man of the world, shrewd, penetrating,
attentive to his interest, and watchful of every advantage to improve
it. In the service he now did Cecilia, he was gratified by giving her
pleasure, but that was by no means his only gratification; he still
hoped her fortune would one day be his own, he was glad to transact
any business with her, and happy in making her owe to him an
obligation: but his principal inducement was yet stronger: he saw with
much alarm the facility of her liberality; and he feared while she
continued in correspondence with the Jew, that the easiness with which
she could raise money would be a motive with her to continue the
practice whenever she was softened by distress, or subdued by
entreaty: but he hoped, by totally concluding the negociation, the
temptation would be removed: and that the hazard and inconvenience of
renewing it, would strengthen her aversion to such an expedient, till,
between difficulties and disuse, that dangerous resource would be
thought of no more.

Cecilia then returned to Mrs Harrel, whom she found as she had left,
weeping in the arms of her brother. They consulted upon what was best
to be done, and agreed that she ought instantly to leave town; for
which purpose a chaise was ordered directly. They settled also that Mr
Arnott, when he had conveyed her to his country house, which was in
Suffolk, should hasten back to superintend the funeral, and see if
anything could be saved from the creditors for his sister.

Yet this plan, till Cecilia was summoned to dinner, they had not the
resolution to put in practice. They were then obliged to be gone, and
their parting was very melancholy. Mrs Harrel wept immoderately, and
Mr Arnott felt a concern too tender for avowal, though too sincere for
concealment. Cecilia, however glad to change her situation, was
extremely depressed by their sorrow, and entreated to have frequent
accounts of their proceedings, warmly repeating her offers of service,
and protestations of faithful regard.

She accompanied them to the chaise, and then went to the dining
parlour, where she found Mr and Mrs Delvile, but saw nothing more of
their son the whole day.

The next morning after breakfast, Mrs Delvile set out upon some leave-
taking visits, and Cecilia went in a chair to Fetter-lane: here,
already waiting for her, she met the punctual Mr Monckton, and the
disappointed Jew, who most unwillingly was paid off, and relinquished
his bonds; and who found in the severe and crafty Mr Monckton, another
sort of man to deal with than the necessitous and heedless Mr Harrel.

As soon as he was dismissed, other bonds were drawn and signed, the
old ones were destroyed; and Cecilia, to her infinite satisfaction,
had no creditor but Mr Monckton. Her bookseller, indeed, was still
unpaid, but her debt with him was public, and gave her not any
uneasiness.

She now, with the warmest expressions of gratitude, took leave of Mr
Monckton, who suffered the most painful struggles in repressing the
various apprehensions to which the parting, and her establishment at
the Delviles gave rise.

She then enquired briefly into the affairs of Mrs Hill, and having
heard a satisfactory account of them, returned to St James's-square.

BOOK VI

CHAPTER i.

A DEBATE.

It was still early, and Mrs Delvile was not expected till late.
Cecilia, therefore, determined to make a visit to Miss Belfield, to
whom she had been denied during the late disorders at Mr Harrel's, and
whom she could not endure to mortify by quitting town without seeing,
since whatever were her doubts about Delvile, of her she had none.

To Portland-street, therefore, she ordered her chair, deliberating as
she went whether it were better to adhere to the reserve she had
hitherto maintained, or to satisfy her perplexity at once by an
investigation into the truth. And still were these scruples undecided,
when, looking in at the windows as she passed them to the door of the
house, she perceived Miss Belfield standing in the parlour with a
letter in her hand, which she was fervently pressing to her lips.

Struck by this sight, a thousand painful conjectures occurred to her,
all representing that the letter was from Delvile, and all explaining
to his dishonour the mystery of his late conduct. And far were her
suspicions from diminishing, when, upon being shown into the parlour,
Miss Belfield, trembling with her eagerness to hide it, hastily forced
the letter into her pocket.

Cecilia, surprised, dismayed, alarmed, stopt involuntarily at the
door; but Miss Belfield, having secured what was so evidently precious
to her, advanced, though not without blushing, and taking her hand,
said "How good this is of you, madam, to come to me! when I did not
know where to find you, and when I was almost afraid I should have
found you no more!"

She then told her, that the first news she had heard the preceding
morning, was the violent death of Mr Harrel, which had been related to
her, with all its circumstances, by the landlord of their lodgings,
who was himself one of his principal creditors, and had immediately
been at Portman-square to put in his claims: where he had learnt that
all the family had quitted the house, which was entirely occupied by
bailiffs. "And I was so sorry," she continued, "that you should meet
with any hardships, and not know where to go, and have another home to
seek, when I am sure the commonest beggar would never want an
habitation, if you had one in your power to give him!--But how sad and
melancholy you look! I am afraid this bad action of Mr Harrel has made
you quite unhappy? Ah madam! you are too good for this guilty world!
your own compassion and benevolence will not suffer you to rest in
it!"

Cecilia, touched by this tender mistake of her present uneasiness,
embraced her, and with much kindness, answered, "No, sweet Henrietta!
it is _you_ who are good, who are innocent, who are guileless!--
_you_, too, I hope are happy!"

"And are not you, madam?" cried Henrietta, fondly returning her
caress. "Oh if you are not, who will ever deserve to be! I think I
should rather be unhappy myself, than see you so; at least I am sure I
ought, for the whole world may be the better for your welfare, and as
to me,--who